The Black Cat Analogy

Spirituality is like being a dark room, looking for a black cat... by listening to and following its "purrs"... and once you find it, you also find it's sitting on a pair of high-powered night-vision goggles.

Peace.

Slave of Christ,

SA

Phizzy

But are the purrs only in your head ? Would I hear them in the same room ?

myelaine

christian is like not being in the dark room because he who says he is in darkness has no light in him...

OnTheWayOut

Spirituality is like being a dark room, looking for a black cat... by listening to and following its "purrs"... and once you find it, you also find it's sitting on a pair of high-powered night-vision goggles.

You do understand that your comment fits the opening post excellently? "... and once you find it." Nobody else hears the purrs and nobody else is able to see your findings. You offer to share your night-vision goggles with others, but they don't work and you say "they are not truly listening/looking/believing/starting-with-an-open-mind."

Even a prime example of this is right here in myelaine's comment:
christian is like not being in the dark because he who says he is in darkness has no light in him...

So I can't see "him" in the darkness, but a believer is so sure of the light that they see "him" whether he is there or not.

AGuest

But are the purrs only in your head ? Would I hear them in the same room ?

You would, dear Phiz (peace to you!)... if you were listening. If you were, say, relying only on your sight, however, and letting that "speak" to you, then all you would "hear" is that "the room is dark... the cat is black... so I can't see it... and so since I can't see it it doesn't exist [in the room]." Can be a pretty loud "voice," actually. Coupled with other "noises" in the room (who said there was only a black cat in it?)... all of that would tend to overpower and drown out the cat's purrs. If, though, you remembered that you have other senses... besides your sight... including hearing... brought that to the fore... and learned to filter out the negative, false, and misleading "noises" in the room, including perhaps your own "voice"... because the only thing you're really concerned about, looking for, is the cat... then, yes, you would its purrs, too.

christian is like not being in the dark because he who says he is in darkness has no light in him...

Being a christian is absolutely like being in the dark (the world; which is why a Light was sent INTO the world - to give sight to the blind - blind due to their own lack of vision as well as being in the dark)... but being led through the darkness by the sounds made by the cat... which has EXCELLENT vision in the dark and so can see way better than the christian ever could... and so, like a "light"... can go before the christian and lead them around the "obstacles" in the room: chairs, tables, trip hazards, holes in the floor, walls...

To properly navigate his/her way around the room, the christian must first listen... so as to hear and then locate the cat (which may even brush up against the christian, or not, from time to time). At some point, though, the cat leads the christian to those night vision goggles and so, while the scene through those isn't crystal clear... or in livid color... added to the hearing, the christian can eventually make his/her way OUT of the darkness... and into the light. By following the cat... which also doubles as the door.

A christian knows that like the heart the eyes, too, can deceive. Hence, for them, the cat IS the "light"... and the "door."

Just for fun, though, I would restate the above, as:

Philosophy is like being in a dark room and asking whether there could be black cat in there, too, and if so, why... if not, why not... under the guise of looking for such a cat...

Metaphysics is like being in a dark room and asking/opining as to whether, if there was a black cat in the room what it would look like/be made of: its construction and the "shade" of black, whether it was opaque or transparent...

Theology is like being a dark room and... having read what others wrote about there being a black cat in the room... running around saying there's a black cat in the room because it's been written about it in such and so writings/books but never actually seen themselves and so such one really has no idea, but since others believed it enough to write about it, well, it must be true and so they believe it, too, and so should everyone else... oh, and the cat also wants everyone to live... and love... the way THEY (theologians) say the cat wants them to...

Science is like being in a dark room... and claiming to look for a black cat... but for the most part not really believing one exists... in the room or elsewhere (so really, why waste time and good money?)... and so tend to use a very small penlight (keychain size) to "search"... and actually finds a whole lot of other things in the room (a chair, table, wires, dust... rats...) that someone believes warrant further examinination ("Now where did that come from and how did they get in the room, too??)... and so spending inordinate amounts of time and money analyzing those... which have little or nothing to actuallly do with the cat... and then write exhaustive papers that say, "See? We TOLD you there's no cat!"... when they actually left off looking for cat (if they actually ever did), long, long ago...

Peace!

A slave of Christ,

SA

AGuest

You do understand that your comment fits the opening post excellently? "... and once you find it."

Saying one has found it... and actually finding it... aren't always the same thing. Saying one has found something that one doesn't even believe is there, just so others will think one has... so that such others will listen to and follow that one... is deceit. Maybe even blasphemy. On the other hand, finding something that one has searched for because one has believed it was there all along and so worthy of a search, is... well, what is summed up in the utterance, "Eureka!". Ususally, one uttering Eureka! doesn't necessarily want others to know what they've found... because it has great value. Sometimes, though, a finder cannot control his/her exuberance... as well as might think a thing of great value should be shared.

Nobody else hears the purrs and nobody else is able to see your findings.

I have to disagree. Not many, perhaps, no. But then that many would... is false.

You offer to share your night-vision goggles with others, but they don't work and you say "they are not truly listening/looking/believing/starting-with-an-open-mind."

I can't share my goggles with anyone. They were given to me, for me to wear. I can share what mine help me SEE, though, as well as that there is indeed a cat, here's how to know/find it for oneself (i.e., listen for it), and that upon finding it one can get a pair of their own goggles, too. Well, some eyesalve. Whatever, so long as one can see, right?

Even a prime example of this is right here in myelaine's comment:
christian is like not being in the dark because he who says he is in darkness has no light in him...

Not sure how that's a "prime" example, because in many ways it's a false statement.

So I can't see "him" in the darkness,

You, perhaps not. Others, not immediately sometimes, no... and much more unlikely without goggles, yes...

but a believer is so sure of the light that they see "him" whether he is there or not.

Can you truly see something/someone that is truly NOT there? Forgive me but I can't see how that can happen.

A slave of Christ,

SA

The Black Cat Analogy

OnTheWayOut

Tater-T

NomadSoul

Amelia Ashton

AGuest

Phizzy

myelaine

OnTheWayOut

AGuest

AGuest

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